Kanungu District Local Government Councils' Scorecard FY 2018/19
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kanungu DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 kanungu DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 L-R: Ms. Rose Gamwera, Secretary General ULGA; Mr. Ben Kumumanya, PS. MoLG and Dr. Arthur Bainomugisha, Executive Director ACODE in a group photo with award winners at the launch of the 8th Local Government Councils Scorecard Report FY 2018/19 at Hotel Africana in Kampala on 10th March 2020 1.2 The Local Government Councils 1.0 Introduction Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI) This brief was developed from the scorecard report The main building blocks in LGCSCI are the principles and core titled, “The Local Government Councils Scorecard responsibilities of Local Governments as set out in Chapter FY 2018/19. The Next Big Steps: Consolidating 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, the Local Gains of Decentralization and Repositioning the Governments Act (CAP 243) under Section 10 (c), (d) and Local Government Sector in Uganda.” The brief (e). The scorecard comprises of five parameters based on the provides key highlights of the performance of core responsibilities of the local government Councils, District Council and elected leaders of Kanungu District Chairpersons, Speakers and Individual Councillors. These Local Government during FY 2018/19. are classified into five categories: Financial management and oversight; Political functions and representation; Legislation 1.1 Brief about Kanungu District and related functions; Development planning and constituency servicing and Monitoring service delivery. The parameters Kanungu District is located in the Western Region are broken down into quantitative and qualitative indicators. of Uganda with the town of Kanungu being the Separate scorecards are produced for the District Chairperson, centre for the District’s headquarters. The District Speaker, individual Councillors, and Council as a whole. The is bordered by Rukungiri District to the north and major rationale of the LGCSCI is to induce elected political east, Kabale District to the southeast, Kisoro leaders and representative organs to deliver on their electoral Distict to the southwest, and DRC-Congo to the promises, improve public service delivery, ensure accountability west. Kanungu District was created by the 6th and promote good governance through periodic assessments. parliament of Uganda in July 2001. The District comprises of 1 county with the 12 sub counties of Kihihi, Kambuga, Nyamirama, Rugyeyo, Rutenga, 1.3 Methodology Kayonza, Mpungu, Kinaaba, Katete, Nyakinoni, The FY 2018/19 LGCSCI assessment used face-to-face Nyanga and Kanyantorogo. The District has 4 structured interviews, civic engagement meetings, documents’ town councils that is; Kanungu, Kihihi, Butogota review, key informant interviews, field visits and photography and Kambuga Town Councils. As of the current to collect the relevant data. The assessment was conducted year 2020, the total population of Kanungu District between July to September 2019. A total of 33 elected leaders is estimated at 277,300 people with 133,900 (31 District Councillors, Chairperson and Speaker) and Council males and 143,400 females (UBOS, 2019). were assessed. Jonas Mbabazi • Rogers Ampumuza1 • Apollo Twinamatsiko kanungu DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 assessed nationally and 3rd amongst the 11 chairpersons 2.0 Results of the Assessment assessed in the western region. Figure 2 shows the This section highlights the performance of Council, details of performance. Chairperson, Speaker and Councillors of Kanungu Figure 2: Performance of Kanungu District District Local Government during the FY 2018/19. Chairperson on Key Parameters Relative to National and Regional Average Performances 2.1 Performance of Kanungu District Council Kanungu District Council has 34 members (32 District Councillors, Chairperson and Speaker). The council which is the highest decision making organ of the district was assessed on: executing the legislative mandate; accountability; planning and budgeting and monitoring service delivery. The Council scored a total of 71 out of 100 points. This was a huge leap from the 57 points scored in the previous assessment in FY2016/17. The results also show that Kanungu was rated the 9th out of the 35 district councils assessed countrywide and 2nd out of the 11 district councils assessed in the western Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 region. Figure 1 shows a summary of the performance of Kanungu District Council. Hon. Kasya exhibited impressive performance under parameters of contact with electorate and monitoring Figure 1: Performance of Kanungu District Council service delivery. She scored 10 out of 10 points and 33 on Key Parameters Relative to National and out of 45 points respectively as it was evident that she Regional Average Performances had an elaborate plan for meeting with her electorate and had actively monitored service delivery. However, her performance under her legislative role was not very impressive given that DEC which she supervises had not presented substantive motions and bills in council, and she had not provided sufficient supervisory and oversight roles to the civil servants. Further details of her performance are presented in Table 2. 2.3 Performance of the Speaker of Council The Speaker of council in Kanungu was Hon. Charles Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 Beshesya who also represents Kirima Sub County in council. Hon. Beshesya, a member of the NRM party Kanungu District Council’s best performance was under was serving his second term in office. He emerged accountability to citizens where it scored 21 out of 25 the second best Speaker amongst the 35 speakers of points. Results show that the council was able to provide councils assessed nationally and second out of the 11 political accountability in terms of discussing contentious assessed speakers of councils from the western region issues in the district, allowing ordinary citizens to attend of the country. Overall, the Speaker scored 77 out of and observe council meetings, communicated resolutions 100 points; a slight improvement from the 72 points he of council to the public, communicated information on scored in the FY2016/17 assessment. Details are shown the financial releases to the local government on public in Figure 3. notice boards and radios. On the other hand, Council did not perform well on monitoring service delivery given a Figure 3: Performance of the Speaker of Council score of 19 out of 30 points. This was mainly because Kanungu District on Key Parameters Relative to of lack of sufficient evidence of monitoring, reporting National and Regional Average Performances and following up on service delivery concerns especially in the sectors of; Environment and Natural Resources, Works and Technical Services, Functional Adult Literacy and Agriculture. Further details are shown in Table 1. 2.2 Performance of the District Chairperson Hon. Josephine Kasya of the ruling NRM party was the Chairperson of Kanungu District in the year under review. She was serving her fourth term in office and was the only female district chairperson assessed. Overall, Hon. Kasya scored 80 out of 100 points; this was an improvement from the 69 points scored in the previous assessment (FY2016/17). With this performance, Hon. Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 Kasya was ranked 8th out of the 33 district chairpersons 2 kanungu DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 Hon. Beshesya exhibited impressive performance across scored zero on this parameter. Table 4 presents the three parameters of; presiding over and preservation of details of Councillors’ performance. order in council, contact with electorate and monitoring service delivery. The highlights of this impressive performance includes; the orderliness in which council 3.0 Critical Factors Affecting meetings are conducted and the strict adherence to the Performance Rules of Procedure. However, Speaker’s performance was inhibited by his low scores under the parameter of 3.1 Factors Enabling Performance participation in the lower local government. • Regular attendance of Council: Results show that all the councillors had attended at least four plenary and committee meetings. The results show 2.4 Performance of Kanungu District that 84 percent of councillors actively participated Councillors and contributed to debates and motions in council. A total of 31 councillors (19 male and 13 female) were • Close and regular contact with electorate: It covered by the assessment. One councillor (Hon. was established that most of the councillors (30 Ezra Arinitwe) was not assessed given that he had out of 31) had co-coordinating centers in their sub been appointed to public service and subsequently counties which facilitated close and regular contact resigned from council. The councillors were assessed with their electorate. This perhaps explains why on the four parameters of; i) legislative roles, ii) contact most of the debates in council were issue-based. with electorates, iii) participation in the lower local government, and iv) monitoring service delivery. Overall, • Positive attitude towards the assessment: Thirty the councillors scored an average of 53 out of 100 out of the 31 councillors in Kanungu turned up for points. This was a slight decline from the average of 58 the assessment and appeared to be scored. This out of 100 points scored in the FY 2016/17